RISE & Jacksonville church of Christ lectures (March 4-9)
My first trip of March began in Jacksonville, Alabama, for an event called “RISE.” This specific event was geared toward college-aged individuals. With Jacksonville State University a stone’s throw away, it is an excellent opportunity to evangelize to people from all over Alabama (and beyond).
The following Sunday-Thursday, the congregation had a lectureship in the evenings. I have seen some people lately criticize the motives behind having an event like a Gospel Meeting, Youth Day, or Lectureships. The accusation sometimes thrown around is that “no one is being saved from their sins, and all anyone is doing is building up the egos of the speakers.” I would like to kindly but firmly remind anyone with those claims that Jesus stated that one soul is worth the “whole world” (Matthew 16:26). Perhaps we need to remind ourselves that we are not to be soil inspectors but simply seed-sowers (Luke 8:4-15). I say all of that to point out this. Two beautiful events took place during the lectures. First, one young man obeyed the Gospel and put on the Lord in baptism (Romans 6:3-4; 1 Peter 3:21; Mark 16:15-16). Second, another decided to be restored and return to God and repent of sins that would keep him from Heaven (Acts 8:20-22). These two events made the lectures worthwhile. Shame on anyone for acting as if they know better and championing a “policing Gospel.” I am thankful that the congregation let MSOP bring our display and set up camp for a week. Here are some of the photos from this event.
I had other photos of some speakers but my photos did not have a good focus and were too blurry to use. Eric Garner was also a speaker and did a fantastic job proclaiming God’s Word as well. It was a blessing to also get to see and meet some old/new friends.
MSOP Debates
Our second year class have a class entitled “Denominational Doctrines” which seeks to employ our students with the tools to use the Bible to answer anything contradictory. During this class our students in the class pair off and debate each other in a “Mock debate” each selecting a topic and one giving arguments from the error side and the other giving the arguments necessary to defeat those positions. The Director (who teaches this class) then gives the one who played the role of the one in error an opportunity to answer the arguments they presented with the Scriptures to defeat it. This class gives our students a taste of what could be to come in their own local works.
Viva Drive church of Christ
It was a blessing to be able to travel to Trummann, AR and be with the congregation at Viva Drive. They blessed our family tremendously and we cannot wait to be back with them again.
MSOP Lectureship 2023
Currently, I have over 2,500+ photos that I am sorting through that were taken during the MSOP lectureship. Rather than input any of those I have decided to rely on the help of others who have sent me a small portion of photos. Cindy Rodgers, I am looking at you!
Thanks to those who made this great event possible. We are looking forward to the next time we can all be together. The next lectureship is going to be March 31-April 4, 2024 and will be on the subject of “Righteousness Exalts A Nation.” Won’t you plan to join us? We have RV hookups available, plenty of hotels and restaruants to choose from and there is sure to be a great lineup!
May God bless us all as we seek to inspire others to both obey the Gospel and those who seek to be able to preach it. Won’t you reach out to me to schedule a report on the school, a tour of the school, or an area-wide congregational luncheon paid by MSOP? If so, you can reach me at mclarke@msop.org
Till next month,
Michael Clarke